Woman strips naked to hug Mandela statue in South Africa

A woman stripped naked in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and caressed a huge statue of the liberation hero as astonished bystanders looked on, local media reported Wednesday.

31.07.2014

Cabin crew members gather on December 6, 2013 near a statue of late South African President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, has died aged 95. Mandela, who was elected South Africa's first black president after spending nearly three decades in prison, had been receiving treatment for a lung infection at his Johannesburg home since September, after three months in hospital in a critical state. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

(AFP) A woman stripped naked in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and caressed a huge statue of the liberation hero as astonished bystanders looked on, local media reported Wednesday.

The young African woman first saluted the statue of the former president, who is revered for his role in defeating the racist apartheid system, before disrobing, witnesses said.

A picture posted on Twitter showed her naked and leaning her head against the knee of the statue in an upmarket area of South Africa's commercial capital.

A waitress at a nearby restaurant told The Star newspaper that the woman's actions, at around 4.00pm on a busy Monday, had caused a frenzy.

Male waiters got their orders wrong and a male customer was hit on the head by his wife for getting up to take a closer look, she said.

Nelson Mandela Square marketing manager Megan Meas said a security guard had asked the woman to put on her clothes, which she did before leaving the square without answering any questions.

"This was an unauthorised incident conducted by a private citizen in her personal capacity on our property," Meas said.